Poutine

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Poutine (pronounced, roughly, poo-TEEN, or peuh-TSEEN; exact Quebecer pronunciation is IPA Template:IPA — listen to it in .wav format) is a popular snack consisting of french fries topped with fresh cheese curds and covered with hot gravy and sometimes other additional ingredients.

The curds' freshness is most important as it makes them soft in the warm fries, without completely melting. (When the curds are really fresh they will often squeak between the teeth.) Image:Poutine-clow.jpg

Poutine is a fast food staple in eastern Canada; it is sold by nearly all fast food chains (such as New York Fries and Harvey's) in the provinces, in small diners and pubs, as well as by roadside "Poutine Trucks". International chains like McDonalds, A&W, and Burger King now sell poutine across Canada, but their product is scorned by many as being an inferior reproduction. New York Fries has poutine on the menus of its U.S. outlets as well as those in Canada. Popular Quebec restaurants that serve poutine are Chez Ashton, La Belle Province, and Lafleur's. Also, poutine is very popular in student cafeterias in high schools and universities.

The popularity of poutine among university students may be best exemplified by the students of Kingston, Ontario. In this college town, undergraduate students from historic Queen's University flock in large numbers to Bubba's Poutine on Princess Street for the diner's signature dish: poutine to-go in small styrofoam bowls. As the downtown's partying and dancing wind down on Friday and Saturday nights, hundreds of students may attempt to pack into the small restaurant in search of poutine, creating a large crowd of people spilling into the street. While many Kingston establishments serve late-night poutine, the owner of Bubba suggested in a 2006 issue of The Queen's Journal that the homemade gravy may be the key ingredient behind his success story.

Poutine is available in only a few places outside of Canada, including the northern United States; Cuba (in some Canadian owned hotels); the Maple Leaf Pub in London England; Becker's in Japan; and even one snack bar in Burkina Faso (La Québécoise).

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Origins

The dish originated in rural Quebec, Canada in the late 1950s and is now popular all over the eastern half of the country, especially in New Brunswick. Several communities claim to be the origin of poutine, including Drummondville, Quebec (by Jean-Pierre Roy) and Victoriaville, Quebec. The most popular tale is the one of Fernand Lachance, from Warwick, Quebec, which claims that poutine was invented in 1957, when a customer ordered fries while waiting for his cheese curds from the Kingsey cheese factory in Kingsey Falls (now in Warwick and bought by Saputo). Lachance is said to have exclaimed ça va faire une maudite poutine ("it will make a hell of a mess"), hence the name. The sauce was allegedly added later, to keep the fries warm longer. Linguists have found no occurrence of the word poutine with this meaning earlier than 1978.

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Variations

There are many variations of poutine. A common variation, Italian poutine, substitutes gravy with Bolognese sauce, while another popular variation includes sausage slices. Some restaurants boast a dozen or more variations of poutine. For instance, you may find more upscale poutine with three-pepper sauce or Merguez sausage. Another variation, poutine Galvaude, includes shredded chicken and green peas, often eliminating the cheese. When ordering a fast food trio (or combo) in eastern Canada, you can often pay a little extra to get your french fries replaced with a poutine.

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Etymology

The etymology of the word is a subject of much debate in Quebec. Many believe that it may be an adaptation of the English word pudding, the word being attested from the end of the 19th century in Oscar Dunn's Canadian French dictionary with the meaning of pudding. Still, Quebecer linguists think that the word evolved from Provençal poutingo, which means bad stew, under the phonetic influence of English pudding. However, the Quebec office of the French Language states this is not true. It is purely coincidental that the name of the current President of Russia is written and pronounced "Vladimir Poutine" in French.

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References in popular culture

In December 2004, the CBC children's program The X hosted what was called the X Poutine Party. The event was sponsored by New York Fries and was held at Dundas Square in Toronto. The goal of the event was to make the world's largest poutine. They ended up achieving this feat, with the poutine weighing in at 808 pounds. The event also featured performances by The Salads, Stabilo and Anjulie. All of the proceeds were donated to The Daily Bread Food Bank.

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Poutine in politics

In an election 2000 segment, Rick Mercer of the television series This Hour Has 22 Minutes convinced then-Governor of Texas George W. Bush that Canada's Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, was named Jean Poutine and that he was supporting Bush's candidacy. A few years later when Bush made his first official visit to Canada, he said during a speech, "There's a prominent citizen who endorsed me in the 2000 election, and I wanted a chance to finally thank him for that endorsement. I was hoping to meet Jean Poutine."[1]

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Related dishes

While at first glance the dish may seem similar to American disco fries, poutine with melted cheese, shredded cheese, or cheese slices is not regarded as "genuine" poutine.

In New Brunswick, there is an earlier traditional Acadian dish known as poutine râpée, which is completely different from the "poutine québécoise". The Acadian poutine is a ball of grated and mashed potato, salted, filled with pork in the centre, and boiled. The result is a moist greyish ball about the size of a baseball. It is commonly eaten with salt and pepper or brown sugar. It is believed to have originated from the German Klöße, prepared by early German settlers who lived among the Acadians. Many other dishes, similar or not, are known by the same name.

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See also

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External links

fr:Poutine (recette) ja:プーティン

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